Opinion | Why Joe Biden’s US could end up jilting Taiwan to make peace with Beijing

Name: Taiwan denounces mainland China for ‘over the top’ flights into island’s air defence zone
Uploaded: 2021-10-25T19:30:20.000Z
Description: Taiwan denounces mainland China for ‘over the top’ flights into island’s air defence zone

Biden has repeatedly walked back commitments to defend Taiwan as attempts to build alliances against Beijing see mixed success

As China’s might grows, and Biden faces growing domestic pressures, he may have to change his foreign policy strategy to make amends and cooperate with China

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US President Joe Biden in a CNN town hall in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 21. During the event, Biden affirmed that the US had a commitment to defend Taiwan, contradicting a long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity”. The White House later clarified that US policy remained unchanged. Photo: AFP via Getty Images/TNS

John F. Copper

Published: 3:30am, 26 Oct 2021Updated: 4:53am, 26 Oct 2021

In January, when Joe Biden became US president, he quickly went to work on cancelling Trump’s legacy. Taiwan, among Trump’s strongest Asian supporters, was expected to suffer the consequences. After all, Biden’s foreign policy work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was not a great record of sympathy or support for the island.

Yet, Biden has offered Taiwan America’s continued support. Motivated by Beijing’s serious threat to the United States, Biden probably sees Taiwan’s democratic leadership as his enemy’s enemy. Also, Biden’s supporters on the left in the Democratic Party fancied Taiwan for its progressive policies.

So, Taipei found a new friend. But, on August 16, as the Taliban swiftly took control of Kabul, Taiwan officials wondered whether trusting Biden was a horrible mistake.

Many Taiwan residents shuddered, wondering if Washington would desert them, as leaders in Beijing suggested that Taiwan might be next.

But Taiwan is not Afghanistan. There is no cultural divide between the US and Taiwan, which poses no financial burden to America. So, trepidation about the US abandoning Taiwan dissipated.

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Taiwan denounces mainland China for ‘over the top’ flights into island’s air defence zone

Yet Taipei has fresh reason to worry. Last month, when Biden spoke at the United Nations General Assembly, he did not condemn China as expected. Instead, he spoke of dealing with global warming as a team and resolving other problems that would bring the US and China together, in a message of goodwill.

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